CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – A community journalist here assisted by a group of lawyers has filed a complaint on Friday against Meta, the parent company of social media platform Facebook, for its alleged failure to observe data subject rights.
In a briefing, lawyer Ernesto Neri, a member of the Movement Against Disinformation (MAD), said their group is assisting Cong Corrales, editor-in-chief of local paper Mindanao Gold Star Daily, in its case against Meta before the National Privacy Commission (NPC) in Manila.
The NPC is a quasi-judiciary body that oversees data privacy laws in the country.
"Meta (allegedly) violated his right because they refused to disclose to the complainant (Corrales) the 'user data' and other evidence that could help him identify the authors behind the libelous and illegal posts," he said.
The Data Privacy Act of 2012, or Republic Act 10173, states that a data subject has the right to “reasonable access, upon demand, of the names and addresses of the recipients of personal information.”
Right of access
Neri said when Corrales wrote a letter to Meta, requesting information on anonymous users behind those who maligned him, the social media company replied that it requires first a "court order" before they could comply.
In particular, Meta had taken down the malicious posts but said it needed “legal processes” to comply with the request for information.
However, Neri pointed out that an earlier case decided by NPC ruled that the right of access may be exercised without the need for a court order, particularly when the information is needed to establish one’s legal claims.
Neri said getting the data from Meta that would reveal the identity of the user who was allegedly posting malicious posts against Corrales is crucial in filing a case against them.
Lawyer Antonio La Viña, lead convenor of MAD and one of Corrales' lawyers, said the latter has been "red-tagged," or accused by anonymous Facebook posts as part of a communist rebel network since 2019.
Accountability
He said many of his other clients had also been red-tagged but could not do anything because they could not identify the perpetrators, who hid behind fake Facebook names and accounts.
“This case aims to exact accountability from social media platforms," La Viña said.
Lawyer Rico Domingo, lead counsel and MAD co-convenor said this action will benefit other journalists and "truth tellers who have been red-tagged."
"We are confident that we have a strong basis for this case,” he said.
Meanwhile, Corrales said he needed the information to identify the people behind the Facebook accounts and hold them accountable.
“I hope this legal step will encourage other victims of red-tagging and those whose rights have been wronged through Facebook to seek legal remedies,” he said. (PNA)
